Real or fake? Difficult to separate Raiders’ drama from...

1of6Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden smiles as Antonio Brown answers a question during a press conference where the Raiders announced the acquisition of the wide receiver at their team headquarters in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, March 13, 2019.Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

2of6Raiders receiver Antonio Brown has remained the Raiders’ center of attention despite his continued absence on the field.Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Is Antonio Brown really such a prima donna? Really choosing to derail his Raiders career before it even starts over an old-school helmet and new-age cryotherapy?

Is Mike Mayock, the Raiders’ new general manager, really the team’s tough guy? Willing to lay down the law and send an ultimatum to the centerpiece acquisition of the team?

Is Jon Gruden really — and this is his description — a d—?

Or is it all just Kabuki theater? All posturing and preening for the cameras?

It doesn’t seem fully coincidental that the absurdity of the Raiders’ training camp is taking place in front of a fleet of HBO “Hard Knocks” cameras. From the hot-air balloon arrival of Brown to the eavesdropping of Derek Carr describing how nervous he was proposing to his wife, everything seems carefully staged and packaged for the cameras.

Including Mayock, generally regarded as Gruden’s lackey. Mayock made a tough-guy, either you’re “all in or all out” statement about Brown on Sunday, which quickly was released by the team on social media. Even that seems like a preemptive strike at whatever “Hard Knocks” might be showing Tuesday night.

The saga of Brown, who lives his life in public, seems particularly like an HBO plot twist to boost ratings. Brown likes to be the center of attention. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, historically creates ridiculous drama around his clients.

Put the two in a prime-time show and voila! Pure madness and a ratings bonanza.

Brown was clearly going to be the centerpiece of the “Hard Knocks” series from its opening moments. Whether his arrival in a balloon was staged by HBO or was Brown’s idea, the cameras were there with him as he floated over Napa in Week 1.

In Week 2, the HBO cameras were there with Brown as he stripped off his socks, somewhere away from the team, and showed his blistered and peeling feet that looked too painful to stand upon, let alone use to run football routes.

Were the HBO cameras rolling Monday when, according to reports, Brown arrived for meetings with the Raiders even though there was no scheduled practice, and camp was breaking? Was he there just to take his toothbrush out of his Marriott hotel room? We’ll find out Tuesday night.

Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) during an an NFL preseason football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019, in Glendale, Ariz. The Raiders won 33-26. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Photo: Rick Scuteri / Associated Press

But the player who meticulously Instagrams his life clearly is the primary plot line, which is probably just the way he and Rosenhaus planned it. Brown’s feet are his most precious asset and the frostbite he suffered makes him look supremely careless or foolish, so is the helmet issue a diversion to distract from the fact that he can’t actually play?

Or is Brown trying to somehow show his commitment to the sport by his devotion to the helmet? Trying to underscore the hypocrisies of the NFL when it comes to player safety? If so, he’s not getting his message across very clearly.

The helmet issue is actually complicated and fascinating. The helmet to which Brown is so loyal is so old that it wasn’t even on the NFL’s banned list this spring because it hadn’t been tested. A more recent version than the one Brown wears was tested by the NFL and players’ union last week but failed because helmet technology has advanced so far in recent years.

That, in theory, should be a good thing. In the era of CTE awareness, the NFL is trying to improve helmet technology to protect brains, right? What if Brown wanted to wear a leather helmet from the 1920s? That surely would fail standards and be not only banned but ridiculous.

But are we really supposed to trust the NFL when it comes to health and safety? Nate Jackson, the eloquent former NFL player known for his pointed commentary on the league, wrote about the issue on Deadspin. He observed that a player’s helmet is a part of his overall comfort and game readiness, and noted that Brown likely feels his vision is impacted, making him not only less effective on the field but more vulnerable to hits and injury. Jackson also speculated that Brown might think that “the league’s ‘health and safety’ initiative is bogus and just an attempt to limit liability, there’s no such thing as a ‘safe helmet’; NOCSAE (the equipment standards committee) is a political organization; ‘helmet technology’ is a PR stunt …”

All of that would be a far more interesting subplot of “Hard Knocks” than another recital of the words to “Autumn Wind” and hearing Gruden ask Nathan Peterman if he is “a blockhead.”

But “Hard Knocks” is produced by NFL Films, a subsidiary of the NFL. So, if you think it’s going to do a deep dive into the league’s bogus health and safety initiatives and stupid public-relations stunts regarding helmet safety, you’re as crazy as whatever audience members believe Gruden sincerely is reconsidering his use of expletives.

It is all Kabuki theater. All done for effect in this month of fake games.

Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County, Ann Killion has covered Bay Area sports for more than two decades. An award-winning columnist and a veteran of 11 Olympics, several World Cups and the Tour de France, Ann joined The Chronicle in 2012. Ann has worked for the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. She is a New York Times best-selling author, having co-written "Solo: A Memoir of Hope" with soccer star Hope Solo,"Throw Like A Girl" with softball player Jennie Finch and two middle-grade books on soccer, “Champions of Women’s Soccer” and “Champions of Men’s Soccer.” She was named California Sportswriter of the Year in both 2014 and 2017. She has two children and lives in Mill Valley.